“He said that in an interview Anthony said, ‘give us £50m and we will sign tomorrow’. They have asked us to give them written acceptance of the deal by tomorrow.

“With all due respect to Deontay Wilder, I don’t believe he has $50m. However, if they actually send some formal paperwork and a contract along with further details on how this money will be secured, we will definitely have to take this seriously.”

On what could happen if Wilder’s team can prove the funds are there from Al Haymon, Hearn added: “We have a meeting on Friday, so let’s see how real this is.”

Joshua stated quite publicly he wouldn’t dwell on taking an offer of $50m from Wilder, and with the clock ticking, Hearn is working behind the scenes to ratify the contract.

Should the current top division king be happy with the confirmation from Hearn of the deal’s security, there’s no reason why the negotiations can’t run smoothly over the weekend.